# Where can I get silver polished?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-silver-polished/522977>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 29, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-silver-polished/522977 "2009-12-29T22:58:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_Doubt)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-silver-polished/522977/1 "2009-12-29T22:58:23Z")

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We have a silver tray/cup set that I absolutely do not want to put in the labor of polishing, having tried it before. But I don’t know how to find someone to do it professionally. Furniture restorers? Antique shops? Am I out of luck and doomed to a lifetime of carpal tunnel syndrome?

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**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-silver-polished/522977/2 "2009-12-29T23:37:57Z")

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If you don’t want to rub-polish it, you can get rid of tarnish by filling an aluminum pan (aluminum is important) with very hot water, adding a spoon of baking soda, and submersing the silver in it. A chemical reaction will take the tarnish off.

Dopers have told me that this is much safer for the silver than cleaning a copper penny with vinegar and salt is for the copper penny… but I haven’t tried it. The one caveat is that it will take tarnish out of the nooks and crannies of the pieces, thus stripping them of the desirable aged “patina” that hand-rubbing gives.

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**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-silver-polished/522977/3 "2009-12-30T01:26:18Z")

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Go to a jeweler. I recently had a silver necklack pendant buffed and given a once-over with some fancy special cloth. For free.

Make sure to shop around though. For the above service, other places wanted to _ship out_ the piece and charge me at least twenty bucks. A local jeweler did it all for free and it took five minutes. Though a silver tray and cup set would have costed money.